1. Field of the Invention:
The invention relates to bowling ball gutter connection devices and more particularly to a gutter connector splice which fastens bowling ball gutters from the gutter underside, preserving a smooth upper gutter surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Bowling is a professional sport in addition to being a popular form of recreation and relaxation. Hundreds of thousands of recreational bowlers participate in the sport annually and many gain particular pleasure from the distraction of league bowling. Like many sports, bowling has attracted the attention of equipment manufacturers seeking to market higher quality and more expensive products intended to enhance performance. One area that has received particular attention is the design of bowling balls themselves. The quality of design and material incorporated in such balls has grown to such an extent that the cost of producing such balls is significant. It is important to the performance of the balls that the surfaces thereof be maintained extremely smooth and be protected from scarring or marring. The challenge of bowling is to direct a ball down a sixty foot bowling lane to strike a desired pocket or pin without rolling into a flanking gutter. Since the technique employed by many bowlers relies heavily on the so-called "english" placed on the ball to cause it to curve in a controlled manner as it rolls down the surface of an alley, the uniformity of frictional contact between the ball and lane surface is of critical importance. Once either the lane surface or ball surface becomes marred or irregular, the bight of the ball on the surface of the lane will tend to vary thus causing the performance of the bowler to deteriorate and his or her score to suffer in a manner disproportionate to his or her own level of physical performance. For those less skilled in the sport, gutters flanking the sides of a lane can play a significant role during each game. Misguided balls which might otherwise careen widely off a bowling lane are to be safely captured by gutters and guided towards the lane end adjacent the bowling pins where they are delivered to a return mechanism for return to the bowler approach area.
Various different constructions have been proposed for bowling ball gutters, including molded plywood nailed in position on convex saddle supports. This construction has given way to various types of plastic gutters in effort to enhance the construction, durability and performance of the gutters. Included in the improved versions are gutters constructed of vinyl coated steel. Again, such gutters are typically constructed in segments and require metallic fasteners to join the gutter segments together, fasteners which may loosen and protrude so as to cause damage to bowling balls running thereover.
Extruded plastic gutter sections have been proposed which are fastened together on their proximate ends by semi-circular clamping straps having fastener screws connected therebetween.
Bowling lane gutters run approximately sixty feet along each side of a bowling lane. The gutters are typically formed with upwardly opening smooth concave channels to guide bowling balls the entire length of the lane. Making up the sixty foot length of gutter are four fifteen foot gutter segments, identically formed of a thermoplastic such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). The segments lie end to end and may be formed at their proximate ends with upwardly opening grooves into which are nested respective arcuate straps through which a plurality of screws project to connect on the underside with complementally shaped retainer straps to thereby sandwich the marginal ends of such sections therebetween.
Although beneficial in that current gutter connectors provide an alignment capability and offer rigid support, the strap which sandwiches the upper surface of the gutter joint lies along the upper surface of the gutter channel for tangential contact with the balls returned thereover, thus exposing such balls to surface damage due to any irregularities that may arise.
The potential damage is exacerbated by the fact that with time the screws holding the straps may loosen and partially back out thus elevating the screw heads to a point where the hard metal edges will inflict great harm on the surface of the balls rolling thereover. Thus a solution to the current problem was proposed in a previous U.S. patent whereby recesses were formed in the end of a gutter segment itself to mate with a connecting member roll formed onto the other gutter segment seeking to overlap the ends of the two segments for receipt of metal fasteners. Although beneficial in that the upper gutter channel surface would remain smooth, the disclosure is impractical due to the fact such fasteners may tend to work loose to be exposed to the surface of bowling balls rolling thereover and the added complexities in manufacturing mass gutters having open grooves in one end and protruding connecting members in the other end.
Other efforts have led to proposing bowling ball gutters to be fastened in position on support saddles or underlying frame work by means of fasteners and to then line the gutters with high density polyethylene material. A bowling ball gutter of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,887 to Sternhagen. While providing some improvement, bowling ball gutter constructions of this type continue to suffer the shortcoming that metallic fasteners are required for securing the structural concave alley segment in position and then typically require metallic staples or the like to secure the surface coating in position. Thus, fabrication and installation involve a relatively expensive process and again leaves metallic fasteners free to loosen and back out and possibly cause ball damage.
Another shortcoming of the current gutter connection device involves the method of installation. Requiring holes drilled into each end of every gutter prior to installation, the current connector is practical for joining only a few gutter segments. At present, this practicality is realized due to the current practice of constructing fifteen foot gutter segments, necessitating only three gutter joint connections for every gutter. However, should shorter lengths of gutter segments be fabricated, securing the joints by straps and screws would be both time consuming and cumbersome. Thus, the cost of building a lane would be increased. Therefore, the inconvenience of replacing and repairing bowling balls and bowling lanes, coupled with the impracticality of the current method of joining gutters, leaves substantial room for improvement in the prior art gutter connector.